A Westerly native, Low enlisted in the Rhode Island National Guard in 1936 and graduated from West Point in 1942.
Major General Andrew S. Low, Jr., US Air Force (Ret)
COL Robert M. Magown, USAF
WWII fighter pilot who flew 161 combat missions in the Pacific, primarily in P-40 Warhawks, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and ten Air Medals. He joined the RI National Guard after the war, and was commander of the 143rd Air Commando Group at the time of his death in 1966. On Monday, March 7, 1966 […]
Thomas L. MacLean, Jr.
Thomas MacLean (1932-2017) exceeded his wildest dreams by becoming a USAF F84 Thunderjet pilot right before the end of the Korean War. The Warwick native joined the RI Air National Guard, where he was active from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s.
Martha McSally
Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally hails from Warwick, and a Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy who became the first US female fighter pilot to fly combat missions, and the first woman to command an American fighter squadron.
Joseph B. Perkins
Born in Providence, Perkins attended Mt. St. Charles Academy, played hockey and was the All-State football quarterback his senior year. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps three months before Pearl Harbor, earned his wings and shipped over to Italy. He flew B-17 bombers with the 353rd Bomb Squadron (Heavy), 301st Bomb Group. On January […]
CAPT Charles Frederick Pratte, Jr., U.S. Army Air Forces
CAPT Charles Frederick Pratte, Jr., U.S. Army Air Forces (1915-1945) B-24 bomber pilot, WWII; earned national recognition and the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving his damaged, brakeless aircraft by tying parachutes to gun mounts on forced landing. Disappeared January 22, 1945 on a mine-laying mission at Chichi Jima; declared dead 1946. Pratte earned four Air […]
Lt Col Edward F. Roberts, USAF
Edward Francis Roberts was born in Fall River, MA on January 29, 1924. He earned the Air Medal flying transport planes in the Pacific during WWII. As a member of the Massachusetts National Guard he was activated for Korea. He transferred to the RI Guard in 1956, and at the time of his death in […]
CMSGT (Ret) Adolph Scolavino, USAF
WWII flight engineer and gunner on B-17 and B-24 bombers in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater. Operating from India and China, he flew 56 combat missions totaling more than 400 combat hours. He crewed the first-ever raid deep into China, and the longest mission flown in the war. He later flew on B-29s assessing A-bomb testing. […]
Lt. Col. Warren H. Smith, Jr., USAF (Ret.)
Lieutenant Colonel Warren H. Smith, Jr. US Air Force (Ret ) (1920-2018 ) was born March 22, 1920 in Lincoln, RI, and lived in the house he was brought up in until his death in 2018. He attended Moses Brown School, Slater Junior High School and then Pawtucket High School. He went to Middlebury College […]
Justin “Jay” Strauss
Justin “Jay” Strauss (1933-2021) was a USAF and General Aviation pilot with more than 12,000 hours of flight time. He flew tanker aircraft in the Strategic Air Command for three years. Best known as the longtime owner and manager of his family business, Eagle Cornice, he volunteered many hours on Angel Flight and Veteran’s Air […]
Roland E. Stumpff
Riverside resident Roland E. Stumpff flew for more than 68 years. He was a WWII B-24 bomber pilot who participated in the dangerous raids on the Ploesti oil fields. On his 13th Ploesti mission his aircraft was hit by flak over the target and lost two engines. With a wounded copilot he nursed his B-24 […]
LT George Sutcliffe, USAF
LT George Sutcliffe, USAF was born in North Providence and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High in 1940. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor, and graduated from flight school in May 1943. Sutcliffe deployed to Europe with the 368th Fighter Group, flying the P47 Thunderbolt. Prior to D-Day, their mission was […]
RI Tuskegee Airmen
So far we can document 15 Tuskegee Airmen from this state, three of whom died during their service: 2/LT William E. Hill of Narragansett Flight Officer William P. Armstrong of Providence 2/LT Walter S. Gladding of Providence The first black pilot from Rhode Island to graduate from the Tuskegee program was 2/LT William E. Hill […]
LT Colonel Joseph A. Zinno
Retired Air Force Colonel Joseph Zinno designed, built and flew America’s first human-powered aircraft, and is a flying veteran of three wars (WWII, Korea and Vietnam).